In 11 years, Apple Watch evolved from a fancy timepiece to a robust health-tracking platform that also fields notifications, takes calls, and handles menial tasks on your wrist. This year, Apple aimed to revamp the Watch’s health capabilities and transform it into an AI-powered hub for the new Siri. Did it succeed? Let’s find out.
At first glance, the brand-new Apple Watch Series 12 looks a lot like the models before it. It maintains the same square design that has become a familiar staple of the brand, and it keeps the larger displays first adopted in the Series 10. In fact, if anything, the appearance of Series 12 actually reverted a bit, as the physical case (body of the watch) and bezels (black border around the display) are now slightly bigger than recent models, but most folks won’t notice that from day to day.
Series 12 is the first exciting Apple Watch in years.
The new larger case is said to account for a completely redesigned health-tracking system embedded within the watch. The existing sensor array to monitor heart rate, steps, oxygen saturation, and other vital metrics has been reworked and improved. Now dubbed the Health Sensing System, it provides continuous heart rate tracking with samples collected every five seconds instead of every five minutes and heart rate variability measurements every five minutes instead of two hours. This, of course, is a huge improvement, as the new rates provide a more rounded look at heart health and overall fitness.
Apple Watch Series 12 Heart Rate Sensor/Apple
In addition to continuous heart rate tracking, Apple also conducted a study comparing Apple Watch Series 12’s heart measurement accuracy against several other wearables, including Pixel Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Garmin, and Oura Ring, with a Polar chest strap used as the most accurate control option. According to Apple, Watch Series 12 most closely mirrored the chest strap, proving it to be the most accurate wearable, at least for heart rate metrics.
The new continuous heart rate sensor enables several new powerful features exclusive to Series 12. The Readiness app uses HRV, sleeping vitals, and overall fitness to estimate your body’s strain levels and indicate when you can push during your next workout or to hold back so as not to cause injury or fatigue. For the first time ever, Apple Watch also gets live step counts; in the past, the displayed number could lag behind, so this is a much-appreciated change. Finally, Series 12 is getting an AI-powered upgrade with Audio Intelligence, though we’ll talk about that more below.
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My impressions so far
I’ve had an Apple Watch on my wrist since 2015, starting with Series 0. I’m an early adopter and a longtime user, so I have witnessed the Watch’s evolution from a piece of expensive jewelry to a robust health-tracking platform.
Even before Apple execs fully understood what the Apple Watch could be, fitness always seemed like the logical route. It had a display for showing data, it had a built-in gyroscope and pedometer to track movement, and it had a heart rate sensor, though back then, it was even less useful, with measurements taken every 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Fitbit and, later, Pixel Watch — after Google acquired the company — had similar devices with continuous heart rate tracking that put Apple Watch to shame.
I’ve wanted Apple Watch to add this feature for 11 years, and as the device improved with every iteration, I was sure Apple would never actually do it. The battery trade-offs were too great, or maybe the company didn’t think the data was useful enough. Who knows the reason? So when Series 12 finally shipped the feature I’ve clamored for, I had to have it.
To be honest, though, it’s not like Apple had a choice. It has been stuck in a health feature drought for years. The last meaningful innovations Apple brought to the Watch were sleep apnea notifications and the Vitals app in 2024. Before that, it was sleep tracking and blood oxygen levels for Series 6 in 2020. Other than those, Apple Watch has treaded water to the point that sales have dipped.
Apple Watch Series 12 Readiness App/Apple
While Google brought interesting features like Loss of Pulse Detection and upcoming blood pressure trends to Pixel Watch, it was becoming clear that a lack of continuous heart rate data was part of Apple Watch’s fitness stagnation.
Not any more! So far, Series 12’s heart rate measurements have been reliable and accurate, as far as I can tell. I haven’t had a chance to test the Readiness app yet, since it requires a full week of fresh data before it activates, so I’m still waiting for that. But I can already tell that this is part of the missing link in Apple’s health tracking endeavors that could open up new innovations in the future.
Another set of features oddly missing from Series 12 is Audio Intelligence. This is an entire set of attributes that use AI and Siri to listen to the environment around you to detect songs, identify certain sirens and alarms, and even take transcripts from the conversations you have in real life. Creepy, right? Maybe, but I need to test it out before I know for sure. Those are expected to arrive in beta later this year.
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A final note, to my chagrin: An early batch of Series 12 Apple Watches are suffering from crashes via a kernel panic, which usually indicates a hardware failure somewhere inside the device, but it could be software too. My own Watch has force-restarted itself twice so far — the first time occurred while sitting at my desk, and the second incident happened when I tried to end a workout.
Apple hasn’t issued a statement on the suspected cause yet, but there is a chance it is just a bad glitch that can be fixed with a future update. That is what I’m hoping, at least; otherwise, my Watch is destined for a warranty replacement.
Odd bugs aside, Series 12 is the first exciting Apple Watch in years. Its new health features will redefine Apple’s position in the fitness category as it takes on Google, Whoop, and whoever else plans to challenge its dominance, and that is great for competition. It is also good for us, as the Big Tech giants try to build the best health platforms to help all of us stay healthier longer in the age of MAHA.
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Apple watch, Fitness, Maha, Smartwatch, Wearable tech, Tech
